Donegal Live – reloaded and ready for Dublin this weekend

Sandwiched between the visits to Dublin of Queen Elizabeth and Barack Obama comes Donegal Live this Sunday.

Returning to Dublin following the resounding success of last year’s event in Temple Bar, Donegal Live will be at the Iveagh Gardens on Sunday 22nd May.

Lots of Donegal artists will perform throughout the day including Moya Brennan, Mickey Joe Harte, Boxtie, The Perfect Mix and many more with The High Kings headlining.

All of the artists, together with as yet unamed Donegal personalities, are lending their name and time to promote the county.

I caught up again with Hugh Harkin to find out more.

Hugh, one of the founders of Donegal Live and Chair of Donegal Association in Dublin, told me:

“The Donegal Association is again giving its support to Donegal Live for another year in Dublin. We were overwhelmed by the impact that Donegal Live made last year in Temple Bar.

It was very satisfying to learn that it resulted in a very significant increase in the number of people from the Dublin area who visited Donegal last summer.”

As with the very successful Donegal Live in Glasgow earlier this month, the team behind the event will be mobilising all the Donegal people living in Dublin to get an even bigger crowd to the Iveagh Gardens. The tactics that worked for Obama are being employed here for promoting Donegal.

Hugh continued,

“After our resounding success in staging Donegal Live in Glasgow on Sunday 1st May we are more convinced than ever of the importance of the work of the Donegal Diaspora in the success of Donegal Live in Dublin and Glasgow.

I would make a call to the Donegal Diaspora around the world to consider how they could – individually and collectively – make a significant contribution to the county at this time when it is very badly needed.”

“I would like to express our thanks to those who have helped make Donegal Live a success, the many volunteers, the artists, the many sectors in the tourist industry in the County, the media and last but not least our funders.

Donegal Live has brought about a unique co-operation between a whole host of people from the public and private sectors working together for the benefit of the County.